2014 Grammy Predictions

I'm gearing up for one of my favorite nights of the year....The Grammy Awards.  Next to Cleveland sports misery, music is my next biggest obsession.  In fact, if I had to choose one over the other I think that I would go with music.  At least music hasn't disappointed me every Sunday for the past 15 years.  I cannot imagine my life without it.  So without further ado, here are my 2014 Grammy predictions.  I am listing who I think should win, and who will really win based on my mediocre knowledge of the industry:

Record Of The Year


» "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell


» "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons


» "Royals" - Lorde


» "Locked Out Of Heaven" - Bruno Mars


» "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell

Should Win: Get Lucky

Will Win: Royals


Daft Punk's album Random Access Memories was one of the year's best.  Get Lucky is one of those songs that both hipsters and top 40 listeners like at the same time.  I can't remember a recent song that hit so many people, so I think the Academy should give this one to the French weirdos that don't show their faces.  All 5 songs are strong in this category this year.  2 of the last 3 years, Song of the Year and Record of the Year were awarded together with Lady Antebellum's Need You Now and Adele's Rolling in the Deep taking both categories.  Because of this, I think that Lorde will take this award (although I think she gets robbed on the next one).

Song Of The Year


» "Just Give Me A Reason" - Pink ft. Nate Ruess


» "Locked Out Of Heaven" - Bruno Mars


» "Roar" - Katy Perry


» "Royals" - Lorde


» "Same Love" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Should Win: Royals

Will Win: Same Love


2013 was the year of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.  I think that the Academy is going to reward them with more awards than they should win.  In the past, rappers have received very little consideration in these types of awards.  Jay Z and Eminem have never won a Grammy outside of a rap category and no rap song has ever won Song of the Year....until this year.  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have many things going for them in the eyes of the Academy.  Yes, Eminem may have been the first great white rapper, but his themes of violence, homophobia, family issues, and drug use were black eyes in the Academy's view.  Macklemore raps about social issues and cheap clothing and is accessible to almost everybody.  For the message, I think that Same Love takes home this award, because if there's anything the Academy likes more than a catchy pop tune, it's a catchy pop tune with a message that is parallel with their social and political beliefs. 




I would choose Royals here in this spot.  This one is a songwriter’s award and I think that Royals is brilliant.  As much love as I have for Katy Perry, I hope she doesn't win this award because: 1) She is dating John Mayer.....ewwwww.  And 2) She totally ripped the melody off of Sara Bareilles, one of my favorite artists ever.  

Best Pop Solo Performance


» "Brave" - Sara Bareilles


» "Royals" - Lorde


» "When I Was Your Man" - Bruno Mars


» "Roar" - Katy Perry


» "Mirrors" - Justin Timberlake

Should Win: Brave

Will Win: Royals

Speaking of Ms. Bareilles, I hope she takes home her first Grammy for her hit song Brave.  I've had an obsession with Sara's music ever since her album Little Voice in 2007.  In a world of auto tune, over production, and having others write your songs, it would be refreshing to see such a talented songwriter get rewarded.  I'm not going to spend the time to look this up, but this has to be the first time in history in which a song that was ripped off is going up against the song that was the ripper-offer (pardon my technical jargon) right?  It would be a travesty if Katy Perry somehow wins this award.  

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance


» "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell


» "Just Give Me A Reason" - P!nk ft. Nate Ruess


» "Stay" - Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko


» "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell


» "Suit & Tie" - Justin Timberlake ft. Jay Z

Should Win: Get Lucky

Will Win: Just Give Me A Reason


I think that Daft Punk takes home a crazy amount of awards this year including this one.  However, the Academy has a love for Nate Ruess and I think that he follows up his stellar 2013 Grammy haul with another award this year.  I'm good with any of these songs winning this year as long as it's not named Blurred Lines.  I still cannot get the Miley Cyrus stench off of this song.  Completely over played and a completely overrated.

Album Of The Year


» The Blessed Unrest - Sara Bareilles


» Random Access Memories - Daft Punk


» good kid, m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar


» The Heist - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis


» Red - Taylor Swift

Should Win: Red

Will Win: Red

I've listened to all of these albums tons of times throughout this past year, here are just some of my thoughts on each:

The Blessed Unrest - Sara Bareilles has a song on this album called Manhattan.  It is the only song in the history of recorded music that has made me cry.  I pretty much tear up every single time I hear it.  Am I ashamed to admit that?  Yeah, kind of, but if you know me well enough then you know that I don't really care what people think.  The song is written from the perspective of a woman losing the love of her life to the big city, one that she knows she cannot contend with.  It's a superbly well-written song just as many others are on this album.  I’m hoping for a miracle that this one wins, as it is by far my favorite of the five, but it’s a long shot.




Random Access Memories - This album has helped me during many workouts over the past year.  The electronic beats are great to get you going on a run.  Perhaps my favorite song on this album is Doing It Right, a song that features Panda Bear from Animal Collective.  It is set as my alarm in the morning and completely scares my wife every time it comes on, so that's awesome.  Also, anytime somebody takes Paul Williams and makes him relevant in 2013, then they should win some sort of award….just not this one.




good kid m.A.A.d city - Best rap album I've heard all year, Kendrick brings something different than the other rappers. Yeezus and Magna Carta were good, but Kendrick's debut was better.  For as good as good kid m.A.A.d city was, Kendrick’s best moment came on a verse that wasn’t even on the album.  It’s almost worth giving him Album of the Year for his verse on Big Sean’s Control.  Crazy stuff.

The Heist - I have a bad feeling that this one is winning it all.  First rap album win Album of the Year since Oukast in 2004.....it's happening.  There are a few good songs on this album, but I can't stand the self-importance of Macklemore. The guy is a walking, talking cliche whenever he gives an interview.  Watch out for the douchiest acceptance speech of all time if this album wins. In fact, I hope they do just so I can get an extreme case of the chills.  I will have my coat ready.




Red – Embarrassing self-admitted truth #2….I am a giant Taylor Swift fan.  Do I think that Red was the best album of 2013?  Depends what you base it on.  Artistically, you could argue that Red is the weakest on this list.  But when it comes to popularity, nobody had a bigger 2013 in music than Taylor Swift.  Justin Timberlake is the only other artist that could give her a run.  More chart topping hits that anybody else on this list combined with the fact that two rap albums should cancel some votes out tells me

that she’s winning this award.  Also, I just don’t see a dance album winning Album of the Year (Random Access Memories), and nobody is going to give love to Sara Bareilles (although in my opinion she is the most talented on this list).  It’s not the Grammy’s without Taylor giving the ol’ aww shucks acceptance speech.

So there you have it – if I get half of these predictions right then it would be a miracle.  The rest of my predictions are below.  Have fun watching The Grammys!

Best Country Album


» Night Train - Jason Aldean


» Two Lanes of Freedom - Tim McGraw


» Same Trailer Different Park - Kacey Musgraves


» Based On A True Story - Blake Shelton
» Red - Taylor Swift

Should Win: Red

Will Win: Same Trailer Different Park

Best New Artist


» James Blake


» Kendrick Lamar


» Macklemore & Ryan Lewis


» Kasey Musgraves


» Ed Sheeran

Should Win: Kendrick Lamar

Will Win: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Best Pop Vocal Album


» Paradise - Lana Del Rey


» Pure Heroine - Lorde


» Unorthodox Jukebox - Bruno Mars


» Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke


» The 20/20 Experience - The Complete Experience - Justin Timberlake

Should Win: The 20/20 Experience

Will Win: Pure Heroine

Best Rock Album


» 13 - Black Sabbath


» The Next Day - David Bowie


» Mechanical Bull - Kings Of Leon


» Celebration Day - Led Zeppelin


» ...Like Clockwork - Queens Of The Stone Age


» Psychedelic Pill - Neil Young With Crazy Horse

Should Win: ...Like Clockwork

Will Win: 13

Best Rap Album


» Nothing Was The Same - Drake


» Magna Carta...Holy Grail - Jay Z


» Good Kid, M.A.A.D City - Kendrick Lamar


» The Heist - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis


» Yeezus - Kanye West

Should Win: Good Kid, m.A.A.D City

Will Win: The Heist